Quant #13: Hypothesis Testing

One of the goals of quantitative research is to determine whether a given variable (independent) has an effect on another variable (dependent). Once that effect has been identified, one of the major tasks of a quantitative researcher is to ascertain whether that effect has occurred by chance or not (i.e., assessing statistical significance). This task is accomplished by conducting a hypothesis test (Null Hypothesis Significance Testing).

The steps involved in conducting a hypothesis test are:

1. State the null hypothesis
2. State the alternative hypothesis
3. Select a level of significance (p-value)
4. Collect and analyze sample data (compute the appropriate test statistic)
5. Compare the test statistic with the critical value
6. Make a decision (Reject the null hypothesis or Fail to reject the null hypothesis)